St. Louis Cyber Security Innovators Receive $30,000 for Scholarships and Programming

St. Louis Cyber Security Innovators Receive $30,000
for Scholarships and Programming

Cyber security is one of the nation’s most pressing economic and national security challenges – compounded by professional shortages. But the St. Louis business community is committed to supporting and building up the region as one of the U.S. top centers for cyber security innovation and education. To further the cause, on Wednesday, January 3, 2018, members from the St. Louis Regional Chamber, REJIS, and TDK Technologies presented $30,000 in checks to the Midwest Cyber Center, T-Rex, the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Webster University to support their cyber security scholarship and programs funding.

The funding came from proceeds from the 2017 Gateway 2 CyberCity annual event held on November 2, 2017 at America’s Center. The event attracted over 350 cybersecurity professionals, students and entrepreneurs from across the country and featured leading presentations and discussions on critical cyber security threats and best practices. The one-day conference was organized by the St. Louis Regional Chamber, the Security Advisor Alliance, the Society for Information Management (St. Louis Chapter), and the St. Louis Chief Information Officer Board.

“The conference provides insight IT leaders can put into practice right away in the constant battle to protect their organizations against cyber threats,” said Eric Gorham, Chief Information Officer at REJIS and Gateway to CyberCity Executive Committee representative. “The Giveback component of the conference, which this year provided $30,000 for local scholarships and program funding, is to promote and support St. Louis’ cyber security pipeline.” St. Louis is home to such major cyber security players as Boeing, MasterCard, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and World Wide Technology.

Cyber security is the protection of computer and technology systems from the theft and damage to their hardware, software or information, as well as from disruption or misdirection of the services they provide. Preventing cyber security attacks is difficult, especially as business systems become more complex and hackers rise to the challenge. The Midwest Cyber Center was founded in 2015 to address a shortage of cybersecurity professionals. It currently hosts an apprentice program in partnership with the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment, or SLATE. T-Rex is home to the Midwest Cyber Center, as well as cyber security accelerator SixThirty CYBER, the Veterans Business Resource Center and a number of cybersecurity startups. UMSL and Webster both have coursework and programs dedicated to cyber security education and training.

“The Regional Chamber’s aims to be a catalyst for increased momentum in cyber security emerging trends and workforce development,” said Jim Alexander, St. Louis Regional Chamber Senior Vice President – Economic Development. “We want to drive proactive and innovative solutions to help keep St. Louis businesses ahead of the threat.”

About the St. Louis Regional Chamber

We are a broad community of leaders committed to inspiring a greater St. Louis and growing the bi-state region’s economy. Our goal is to make St. Louis one of the top-ten most economically prosperous regions in the U.S. by 2025. Driving economic development is about putting people first. When we work together and achieve our goal, the St. Louis region will be a more inclusive and attractive place to live, work and invest for all people.  This is our strategy to achieve our goal:  First, strengthen the economic clusters where we are already strong and have global potential for growth – financial services, health, logistics, and biosciences.  Second, create new economic opportunities and mobility by leading initiatives to achieve greater education attainment, inclusion and talent attraction, entrepreneurship and innovation. Third, advocate for forward-thinking economic policies that result in racial equity, a more safe and secure region and substantial investments our region’s infrastructure.  www.stlregionalchamber.com